Thanks for all the kind words. I'm very happy with my bench, and I often wonder why I waited so long to build it and why I lived with
this for so long...
I understand the vise needs 4.125" plus the core bench thickness for the vise jaws. What set up do you have in this regard? It looks like you have drilled through the bench apron. What is the bench thickness and the jaw size?
Oh man, did I mention I built this in 2005 and my memory ain't the greatest. I basically followed the twin screw directions, but I recall cheating by a little bit. IIRC they recommend a little more jaw thickness than you really need, and I shaved a bit off the jaws based on this. I was looking at the dimensional stackups to really dig into this. Can't remember the details any longer, but if it's important to you let me know and I'll try to rediscover what I did and why. I do remember that the slab is 2-1/4" thick and the aprons are 5-7/8" wide if that helps....
I have the LV vice on one end of my bench, I'm having trouble keeping the two handles "in sync". What has been your experience? Any suggestions?
After using the vises for a little while and learning that you don't really need both handles unless you're skewing the vise, I removed one handle on each vise. I have them close at hand, so if I ever want to skew the jaws (which I rarely need) I reinstall the second handle and skew away. It's much easier living with these vises with only one handle - no need to be concerned with phasing them in synch, and no worries about them banging into each other as they're turned.
does it have any battle scars yet?
You bet! The first few were tough to live with, but now adays I don't worry about it too much. It definately gets used.
Other than setting bowls and bird houses on it do you still use the bench?
Doesn't this forum have a "slap" emoticon?? Here - I'll do it the hard way:
Turning is a temporary insanity between flatwork projects! (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)
The placement of your planer seems constrained, with the jointer on one side and the tablesaw on the other. Doesn't that make it tough when planing, as you need to run from one side to the other and that does not look easy in your shop.
It's my form of a workout!
I really like how I have the TS, Planer, and Jointer positioned in my shop. The only time I wish I had a bit more space is when waltzing back and forth between the in and outfeed side of the planer. It can be fun shuttling back and forth, but it's not that big of a deal that it creates a burning desire for a shop rearrangement.